Roslindale Business Profile: Sullivan's Pharmacy & Medical Supply

One of the first sites you see as you enter Roslindale Village from Belgrade or Robert Street is the big red and white S&P atop an unassuming brick building: Sullivan’s Pharmacy & Medical Supply. What many folks don’t know is that Sullivan’s is the largest employer in Roslindale Village – employing around 100 people, filling their offices downstairs with medical billing, shipping, delivery, and pharmaceutical specialists. The community pharmacy upstairs is just the beginning, as Sullivan’s Pharmacy has two other divisions of their business: long-term pharmacy (including offering pharmacy’s oldest tradition: compounding) specifically for long-term care, group homes, hospices, and assisted living facilities, and medical supply and delivery (i.e., hospital beds, wheelchairs, walkers). They have 15 vehicles that deliver at least 350 prescriptions a day all over Eastern Massachusetts. They recently purchased a warehouse and parking lot in Dedham that will soon house their vehicles and larger inventory items.

Sullivan’s fills more prescriptions than many of the pharmacies in the area, ranging from 400-600 prescriptions a day upstairs to at least 800 prescriptions a day downstairs in the long-term pharmacy. Not only that – but most folks who work there have been Sullivan’s employees for 37, 25, 18, 10 years. “We retain our large staff and treat them like family,” says owner Greg Laham.

Greg Laham and his son, James, have been running Sullivan’s Pharmacy for 41 years, but Sullivan’s itself has been in business since 1912. Only three families have run the business, and it used to be located in the building across from Green T Coffee on South Street (where Ghassan’s Barber Shop is). Greg, who was a young pharmacist at the time, purchased the business in 1976 and moved into the old Sherman’s clothing store on Corinth Street in 1984, where at the time, several buildings had been burned down due to arson fires and general neglect.

Now, Roslindale’s favorite pharmacy is part of the neighborhood’s vibrant business district full of restaurants, unique retail, and a bustling farmers market.

After moving to the Square, Greg was part of the original crew of business and property owners that, in 1985, alongside RVMS Advisory Board Members Vinny Marino and Joe Portelecki, helped start RVMS. Then City Councilor Tom Menino brought this team together at a 7:00pm meeting, and said, “Hey – I want to do this Main Street thing.” And, here we are 32 years later.

“The best part about coming together and organizing with the Main Streets program was meeting people I didn’t know at the time, and becoming lifelong friends,” says Greg.

Did you know?

Sullivan’s Pharmacy offers flu shots seasonally (September thru March) with no prescriptions required to people 18 years of age and older?